Is your music appreciation class feeling a bit adagio this afternoon? Pick up the pace and get them feeling andante with a straightforward music theory activity. After defining several terms for musical dynamics and musical tempos, pupils rank the speed of terms from largo to allegro and reflect on a selected piece of classical music using their new terminology.

Concepts

orchestras, classical music, composers, music appreciation, tempo

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Additional Tags

visual and performing arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Implement the activity as a class lesson, and play the musical selections from the front of the class
• Have students walk around the room according to various presented tempos, either within the music, on a metronome, or a teacher's claps

Classroom Considerations

• Requires Internet access and availability of audio equipment
• Assumes learners have some prior knowledge of music theory
• Website navigation gets a bit complicated; consider just providing the link to the desired page rather than a lengthy navigation guide

Pros

• Ideal as a homework assignment or substitute teacher activity in music appreciation
• Encourages learners to consider the tempos of different forms of music

Cons

• Copying definitions from the publisher's website may feel a little rote and unengaging for learners
• Does not include an answer key

Common Core

SL.4.4 SL.5.4